"Embarracuda"

"... what a desperate empty embarrassment the McCain campaign has become."

Time Magazine's Joe Klein echoed the sentiments of much of the news media on October 6, 2008, about one month before the election.

As had many, Klein referenced the 'palling around with terrorists' and ever-handy Rev. Jeremiah Wright 'God damn America' memes. He related stories about Sarah Palin and Jews for Jesus, and Todd Palin's Alaskan Independence Party.

He also mentioned Fox News show host Hannity's complicity with a lesser known "Jew-hater" who'd been publicly "exposing" Sen. Obama as a Muslim. Klein cited this piece from the Washington Times:

In 1986, when Mr. Martin ran as a Democrat for Connecticut's 3rd Congressional
District seat under the name "Anthony R. Martin-Trigona," his campaign
committee filed papers saying its purpose was to "exterminate Jew power in
America and impeach U.S. District Court of Appeals judges in New York City."

 In January 2011, Pew Research listed these religious affiliations in the 112th U.S. Congress:

304 Protestant
156 Catholic
39 Jew
16 Other or No Declaration
15 Mormon
3 Buddhist
2 Muslim

Throwing stuff against the wall to see what sticks doesn't seem to have subsided in the 2012 presidential race. Conservative meme topics describing President Obama include foreign born, Muslim, felonious, lazy, welfare President, to name a few.

Obama As Organizer and Guide

In 1985, at an annual salary of $10,000, Barack Obama became a community organizer for the Chicago-based Developing Communities Project. One of his most significant achievements was to enlist skeptical pastors of various churches as Project members.

Although he eventually became executive director of the group, Obama left for Harvard to pursue a law degree. He explained to them that he wanted to pursue a career in public life where he thought he could more effectively implement change. Before his departure, he made certain the Project finances, staff, and church members were sufficiently buoyed.